This Day in History

Feb. 18, 1969: Beginning of Wildcat “Black Lung” Strikes

Time Periods: 1961

Themes: Health, Labor, Organizing

Not content with their union’s efforts to the recognize black lung disease as a medical condition eligible for workman’s compensation benefits, coal miners at the East Gulf Mine in West Virginia went on an unauthorized strike starting on February 18, 1969.

Rank-and-file coal miners orchestrated a wave of wildcat strikes, with an estimated 45,000 on strike by early March. In solidarity, fellow miners in Ohio and Pennsylvania struck, as well.

Coal miners protest holding signs reading, “Black lung kills.” Source: Mine Safety and Health Administration

As Kevin Young writes for Common Dreams,

Coal workers have won their biggest victories not through lawsuits but by striking. In the 1950s a U.S. coal miner was killed on the job every 18 hours. In later decades that rate declined significantly, and not just because of downsizing. Mine safety was strongly correlated with workers’ collective action: More frequent strikes meant fewer injuries and fatalities.

Known deaths on the job don’t include the many thousands who died prematurely from pneumoconiosis, caused by inhaling coal dust. It took the historic “black lung” strikes of 1969 to impose limits on dust and methane levels and to win compensation for disabled workers.

By the end of the year, Congress passed the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act, extending compensation for victims of black lung disease nationally and authorizing the strictist coal dust standards in the world.